Отдых в Гоа Holidays in Goa

We rested at the end of the season, at the end of April-beginning of May 2010. The time was chosen specifically so that there were empty beaches - and it happened. We got to Goa after a week-long trip to central India - the "Golden Triangle", so we were already prepared for the Indian service.
The hotel is good. Large landscaped area. Polite staff - constantly "good morning, ma'am", "good morning, sir", smiling.
ROOM. At the check-in, they asked for a room on the second floor, so that it would not be so damp, they invested $ 20 - they settled not in a standard, but in a deluxe. The room is large, balcony, large double bed (which is important for us). Safe, bar (but locked, we never asked to open it). Fresh flowers are nice. Tea, coffee bags, sugar, kettle. Water was brought not in bottles, but in a thermos. Powerful air conditioning (but the weakest mode was too cold for us, so as soon as the room cooled down, they turned off the air conditioner and turned on the big fan above the bed). Nice bathroom, all plumbing is new, working. Hot water - no interruptions. Fen. Constantly reported and good quality soap, shower gel, etc. According to the Golden Ring, they lived in 5-star Tridens - almost ideal hotels. In comparison, the Holiday Inn lives up to its 4 stars. BUT: the floors were constantly dirty. The room was constantly cleaned, the floors were washed every day, but they remained somehow dusty, unwashed. Walk barefoot - black heels. Already having an idea of ​ ​ Indian cleanliness, they themselves washed glasses, cups, etc. Constantly expecting some kind of impurity - it was very annoying. The bed linen is new - pleasant, but several times the linen was laid in lumps.

The TERRITORY is large, beautiful, good lawns, on which some birds walk, similar to small herons and, of course, crows. At first we fed them - they even eat with hands, it's cool, but they fight over food, they kill small ones, and it's unpleasant to watch. The pool is small, and at 6 pm (or 8 - I don’t remember anymore) it stops working. Cleanly. There were no mosquitoes and other insects, periodically the entire territory is fumigated with insecticides. Towels are provided near the pool, which can also be used on the beach.
BEACH. White gentle sand, very gentle and long entrance to the sea. The sea is a warm soup. How many degrees - did not find out, but when you go into the water, you do not feel the temperature difference. I take a bath at home. Since it was the end of the season, we didn’t manage to swim calmly (we knew this): big waves, but floundering in them is the best attraction, we didn’t want to leave the sea at all. The sand is hot, it’s difficult to run to the sunbed without shoes (in the morning they came to the beach, climbed into the water, floundered for an hour and a half or two, went out - and it already hurts to walk, like in a frying pan). Sunbeds are normal, under large canopies woven from hay. On the beach - a hotel cafe. Of the shakes, there was only one left (the rest had already closed for the monsoon season) - on the left, if you look at the sea - ugly and dirty. The hotel is on the first line, but you need to walk 200 meters through the territory. Two old fishing boats look very picturesque (if you don’t get close and don’t look inside, there is garbage). In the evening they are illuminated, and the bar arranges dinners right on the beach.
BUT: there are black stripes on the white-smooth sand. At first they did not pay attention to them, then they looked closely - oil. Whether there was a one-time release or a permanent source somewhere, I don’t know, but it’s somehow not very good to walk along the oil sand. + Along the entire coast, a few meters later - dead fish. Stray dogs eat it, then crows, of which there are innumerable. One of our friends had a camera stolen by a bird like that. Crabs eat up the rest at night, and everything repeats again. On the penultimate day, they saw a dead rat thrown out, which was pecked by crows. The magnificent sea has ceased to be attractive. I no longer dabbled in it.
There are many vendors on the beach. After Jaipur and Agra, they are very shy and not annoying, but the Arabs are resting. They are not allowed to sunbeds, tourists are caught in the gap between the beach and sunbeds. If you buy something from one, others cry and ask you to buy from them too. Russian has already been mastered. You need to either not buy anything, or buy on the last day, or buy from several (so that later they stick less). You need to bargain, knocking down the price several times. You can buy bracelets from them (silver or silver, I don't know, but they look good). More out of pity I bought several sets (300-350 rupees each) - they turned out wonderful gifts. And I regret that I didn't buy enough.

CONTINGENT. The British and French have already left. There were some Russians. Everywhere is empty and free, which was a big plus for us. But from May 4-5, Indians began to appear - more and more. Normal middle class. Lots of Sikhs. They didn't stress. With families or delegations. What jarred a little - women do not swim in the sea, and most of them are in saris or punjabi, so somehow I didn’t feel very good in a bikini. But no one looked askance, these are already my cockroaches. + Pissing boys appeared (in Central India, Indians generally relieve all their needs in public).
NUTRITION. The hotel has a restaurant and two bars. We only had breakfast. Buffet, but not China, and not Turkey. We love exotic, and even more so spicy cuisine, but most of the Indian dishes that we tried did not like at all. Small pieces of chicken or some legumes in a liquid spicy vegetable puree are not for everyone, especially if you are not sure that some muck has not got into this puree. But, of course, you can eat: eggs, omelettes, sausages or chicken liver, cheese, some pastries, toast, jams. The best part is their cakes. Juices - packaged or watermelon, papaya, etc. for an amateur. But wonderful tea, which is poured by the waiters. Do not give up milk - a good black tea with milk is very tasty! Fruits - mangoes, bananas, watermelons, pineapples. And that's it. We did not see lychee and other tropical fruits at all. Nowhere. Vegetables are a whole other story. In all restaurants - vegetable salad - this is coarsely chopped and separately placed on plates of carrots, rough cucumbers, hard unripe tomatoes and red onions without any sauce. This is in Trident in Agra and Jaipur, this is in several restaurants in Delhi and this is in Goa. It may not be the season, but such a scarcity in vegetables (and fruits too) was simply not expected.
We dined in Cavelossim and mostly - in the restaurant "Fishterman`s Wharf" (if you stand at the exit, on the street with your back to the hotel, then go right 150-200 meters). The restaurant stands on the river, on the opposite bank - a fishing pier, beautiful and not dirty. We ordered fish and seafood - they are difficult to spoil, everything was delicious. Once they took a kebab and vowed to try meat dishes in India. As a side dish, you could order something from Chinese cuisine. By the way, only here they found a salad from the actual salad. Dinner for two came out at about 800-1200 rupees (with a little rum). The waiters do not speak Russian, but there is a Russian menu. Everything is more expensive in a hotel. Why not eat in the neck? Immediately on the first day we went to have lunch in a shake. Dirty. Very dirty. The food, in principle, was delicious, so we decided not to pay attention to the dirty oilcloth. But a large insect was found in a glass of mango juice. Considering that in India it is quite normal to sell food while sitting on the counter with dirty feet and even clean toenails (I personally saw how the seller cleaned them for bananas, and this did not cause any rejection in anyone), we decided to find a place where at least outwardly everything is fine.
ENTERTAINMENT. In the hotel - there are none, except for themed dinners on the beach, which suited my husband and I. Outside the hotel - everything is written in other reviews. Opposite the hotel is a shop where the seller "Marco Polo" sells weed.

PHONE. Roaming is available from MTS. Expensive. There are vending machines in the village. In front of the hotel - too.
PURCHASES. Small elephants in a shop opposite the hotel are very useful for souvenirs, they are well made. For 5 dollars - 3-5 elephants. Bargain! Shawls in Cavelossim. There are also jeans (without bargaining, you can pick up good ones). Bracelets on the beach - very useful. Silver jewelry with 2-4 different stones in Indian/Oriental style in jewelry stores: $35-45 for a ring and pendant (even if the fake is complete - how the jewelry goes - looks amazing at home). It is better to buy expensive jewelry for those who understand them. Tea is expensive and it cannot be said that it is very tasty. You can have a little Darjeeling - at least it smells. A set of spices or tea in wooden caskets - the caskets themselves are amazing, it will be nice to admire them later. Goan rum really goes to Goa itself, it is hardly necessary to drag it home - it is not drunk at all like that.
In GENERAL, you can go see. But my husband and I had previously been on a similar trip to China: also a combined tour: first Beijing, Shanghai, then a vacation in Hainan. We fell in love with China right away. And they weren't disappointed. In India, involuntarily, everyone was compared with China, and everything was not in favor of India. In all respects (architectural monuments and airports, sea and beach, people, cuisine, attitude towards tourists, safety and general atmosphere), China is superior to India. At the end of the trip, we really wanted to go home. It is difficult to rest when there are hungry and beggars nearby. It is difficult to relax when dirt and poverty are everywhere. And yet, almost everyone who feeds next to tourists, by all means strive to breed them. India needs to be loved very much to be accepted as it is. And if you have a choice between China and India - go to China, do not hesitate, you will like it.